Nieuws
-
Formic acid
It is the stuff that makes you say unprintable things when you get stung by a nettle or when you get bitten by ants. (In Dutch and German it is called "Ants Acid".)
-
Fastest-expanding Companies
On 24 April the Financial Times published a list of the fastest-expanding 1000 companies, based on revenue growth between 2012 and 2015. Not surprisingly the vast majority belongs in the range of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME, or MKB in Dutch), that is companies with fewer than 100 employees. Yet the very top of the list is taken by HelloFresh of Germany, which had 961 employees in 2015.
-
Uniform inspection for high risk companies
Inspection and licensing of companies that deal with dangerous (i.e. explosive or poisonous) substances in this country was until recently under the responsibility of some 400 municipalities.
-
The other mother
If WCCE10/ECCE11/ECAB4 is the mother of all Chemical Engineering (see our news item of 27 December) then certainly ACHEMA in Frankfurt must be called the mother of Chemical Engineering trade shows.
-
Available PhD thesis position
I am looking for a PhD candidate with ideally a strong background in chemical engineering thermodynamics (equation of state, phase equilibria) and mathematics (numerical methods). Candidates with experience in (scientific) programming (especially ForTran) will be preferred. Good communication skills are obviously necessary.
-
MIX IT UP!
Tubular membranes have been around since the 1970’s and static mixers even longer. Combining the two to enhance mass transfer has been proposed at the beginning of the century.
-
Green(er) Technologies and Process safety
Frits Dautzenberg will give a presentation in Eindhoven on April 3rd titled “A Journey Towards Green(er) Technologies”. In this presentation, he will highlight four special projects.
-
Avantium goes from strength to strength
Of course you remember FDCA, the precursor to PEF. Avantium produces it in their 2-step YXY process, which consists of dehydration of sugar to MMF, followed by oxidation of MMF to FDCA. Both steps will no doubt see optimization in the future, but in the meantime, there is enough confidence in the process, that together with BASF, they will soon produce 50,000 tpa of the stuff in Antwerp
-
Carbon secured
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) will remain a necessary evil if only until sufficient alternatives for fossil fuels have been developed. Our journal - NPT Procestechnologie – has just published an article that not only outlines the increased cost and reduced efficiency of power generation when CCS is added, but also the social unrest stemming from fears of possible earth quakes.
-
Who would have thought?
Not all news from the United States is depressing. First there was the report, discussing a possible carbon tax, published by the Office of Tax Analysis in the last days of the Obama-administration in a frantic effort to beat the clock.